SAN FRANCISCO -- Five men accused of taking part in a shooting that killed a 50-year-old German tourist near Union Square in August 2010 pleaded not guilty Friday after being indicted on murder and other charges.

Two other bystanders were wounded in the shooting at Mason and Geary streets. Schröer, an elementary school rector from Hanover, was gunned down as she and her husband of 25 years were looking for somewhere to eat.

Jackson was charged as an adult. Another man, Gethsemane Pita, 18, pleaded not guilty Friday to one count of accessory to murder, participation in a criminal street gang and possession of a firearm.

The other defendants also face firearm and gang counts, in addition to charges of attempted murder and assault with a firearm. Stewart faces a charge of assault with a semiautomatic weapon.

A seventh suspect, Devante Laws, 19, of San Francisco, was also indicted on murder charges but is still at large, said Stephanie Ong Stillman, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

Prosecutors filed charges against all the defendants but Laws in May, and all six pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing was to have started this week, but the grand jury indictment supersedes it.

Assistant District Attorney Eric Fleming said he had decided to go the grand jury route because of the number of defendants involved and to make the process easier for the witnesses.

"There were a lot of teenagers that were out on the street that day and each individual had to testify in front of the grand jury," he said. "For some of them, that took an emotional toll as to what occurred. We thought it would be best to have them testify only once before the trial, as opposed to taking a chance on having maybe two, maybe three different preliminary hearings."

Fleming said 60 to 70 witnesses had testified before the grand jury, and many area business owners came forward with surveillance videos. Evidence showed that at least four guns were used in the shooting, which prosecutors say was motivated by gang rivalries.

Police previously said that some of the defendants belonged to a Western Addition gang and that others were in a gang named for the Valencia Gardens housing project. Fleming would not go into detail about the defendants' alleged gang involvement.

District Attorney George Gascón said he would not pursue the death penalty for any of the defendants.

"The totality of the circumstances in this case, it certainly would not be a case that even in the best-case scenario, the death penalty would be appropriate," Gascón said. "We also do not think practically that we'd be able to get a death penalty conviction in San Francisco."

Prosecutors hope to hold one trial for the six defendants who are in custody. They are to return to court Oct. 31.